I can’t wait to see this film. Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy, Hysteria is a dramatisation of the true story behind the invention of the vibrator and it looks like a lot of fun.
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I read Rachel Maines’ book The Technology of Orgasm back in 1998 when it was released and I wrote a piece on it for Australian Women’s Forum (it’s now in the member’s area of For The Girls). The story of the invention of the vibrator is fascinating: in the late 1800s doctors would bring women to orgasm to treat “hysteria” (sexual frustration). There weren’t enough doctors to keep up with the demand so the industrial revolution and electricity came to the rescue in the form of the vibrator, allowing the treatment of many more women an hour (and upping the profit margins).
The trick with treating “hysteria” like this was, of course, that it wasn’t supposed to be sexual. Sex was about putting a penis into a vagina. Rubbing a woman’s clitoris until she experienced the relief of a “hysterical paroxysm” was simply a medical procedure. Nothing suss! It reveals much about Victorian attitudes to sexuality and women.
If you want more info I recommend the Good Vibrations online vibrator museum – lots of pics and info there.
via Violet Blue